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Twitter layoffs class action overview:
- Who: Twitter has asked a California judge to dismiss a class action filed against it by disabled workers who were recently laid off.
- Why: The plaintiffs allege people with disabilities were treated differently than other employees amid recent Twitter layoffs. However, Twitter says the claims do not have merit.
- Where: The Twitter layoffs class action was filed in a California federal court.
Twitter has asked a California federal judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging that employees with disabilities were discriminated against amid layoffs that began once billionaire Elon Musk took over the company.
In a motion to dismiss filed by Twitter Inc. Dec. 28, the social media company said plaintiffs Dmitry Borodaenko and Abhijit Mehta had failed to show that people with disabilities were treated differently among the recent layoffs.
Twitter laid off around 3,700 of its employees in November after Musk completed his acquisition of the social media company, in what was done as a “cost-cutting measure.” Borodaenko is a former employee and Abhijit Mehta is set to be laid off next month.
Plaintiffs say workers with disabilities and those who requested family or medical leave were disadvantaged
Borodaenko filed the lawsuit against Twitter on Nov. 16, alleging he was fired shortly after he told his boss he wouldn’t follow Musk’s order that all employees must begin working in person.
He said, as a cancer survivor, he is more vulnerable to COVID-19. He also alleges that a new mandate that employees commit to long hours discriminates against people with disabilities.
Mehta, a senior engineering manager, was added to the lawsuit Dec. 7. He said he was approved for family leave, but was told he would be laid off shortly after Musk took over. He said many others who planned to take family or medical leave were also laid off.
However, Twitter argues that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the workers had not proved that it was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and other state laws.
“Plaintiffs rely upon factually unsupported conclusions rather than data or anecdotal evidence in their attempt to allege causation,” Twitter said in the motion.
Twitter added that Mehta had agreed to arbitrate any employment disputes he had with the company.
It also said the plaintiffs could not represent all employees with disabilities, as everyone’s situation was different.
“These fact- specific, individualized inquiries demonstrate that plaintiffs’ claims are inappropriate for classwide resolution,” it argued.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in California has ruled Twitter must inform the thousands of employees it laid off of a proposed class action lawsuit accusing the company of violating the law with the sackings.
What do you think of the allegations in this lawsuit against Twitter? Let us know in the comments!
Borodaenko and Mehta are represented by Shannon Liss-Riordan and Thomas Fowler of Lichten & Liss-Riordan PC.
The Twitter disability lawsuit is Borodaenko et al. v. Twitter Inc., Case No. 4:22-cv-07226, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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